Sears Department Stores Will Soon Be A Memory of Our Childhood

It seems they'll be going the way of Grants and Montgomery Ward. Sears and probably K-Mart will be nothing but a memory in a few short years. It seems the company is spending large amounts of money and reporting quite horrible earnings since they purchased K-Mart nine years ago. K-mart has proven to be pretty much forgotten about by customers and Sears downward spiral seems to gaining momentum.

"The company said this week that it may sell its 51% stake in Sears Canada, which operates nearly 20% of the company's stores worldwide. It has quietly closed nearly 100 U.S. stores in the last year. Next week, it's expected to announce dismal fiscal first quarter results and possibly yet more store closings." -money.cnn.com

CEO Edward Lampert has already informed shareholders at this month's meeting that "closing stores are going to be part of our future. The world has shifted."  Sears acquisition of K-Mart has proven to be a huge disaster since the beginning. Sears sales have gone down every month since 2006 and the company has failed to make money since 2011.

Which is sad, because Sears was once a booming business, with the most employees in the U.S. Sears actually caused a complete shift in how stores do business. It's massive size and catalogs murdered competition. Now, it's being beaten by stores like Walmart, Home Depot, Target and most importantly Amazon.com. It seems like Sears Holdings hasn't kept up with the way commerce has shifted in the last few years.

The company is going to sell 51% of its holdings in the Canada market, which is an whopping 20% of their worldwide stores! This after silently closing 100 stores in The U.S. just last year.

I myself have not seen a Sears Store revamped, or their way of doing business updated... ever. To stay relevant you need to invest in your business to keep on top of your game. Just to stay competitive.

It will be sad to see them go as Sears has been an icon across America for years. It will soon be a story for or grand-kids to here about. Collectors will have catalogs to remember them by...  I will remember my father buying tractors, Craftsman tools and getting tires put on inside the Sears Garage.